A SALMON LOCH IN SUTHERLAND 115 
latter flies were the ordinary medium-sized loch- 
trout flies, and we thought it wiser, as we knew 
that there were a lot of salmon in the loch, to 
put only two flies on the trout cast. My brother 
began fishing with the salmon rod in the stern of 
the boat, while I tried in the bow for trout. I 
very soon rose three or four trout, and managed 
to secure two, but my brother had no luck with 
the salmon. We had not been fishing for more 
than half an hour when the wind went down 
and the sun came out. The surface of the loch 
became absolutely calm, just like a sheet of glass, 
and fishing appeared to be hopeless. The salmon 
now began to jump in diff'erent parts of the loch, 
and, although Sandy said it was perfectly useless, 
we kept trying to cast over them. At length, 
however, we gave it up, and sat waiting for the 
breeze. Suddenly a salmon rose about twenty 
yards from the boat. I said, " Come on, Sandy, 
put me over that," and, taking up the salmon 
rod, proceeded to cast over the place where the 
salmon had risen. With great difficulty I got 
the line out, as it was dead calm. I cast once, 
twice, and for a third time, and just as I was 
getting to the end of my cast on the third attempt, 
up came the salmon, rising apparently not with 
